The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan hosted a panel in Tokyo to discuss domestic and international parental child abduction. Topics included harm to the children, shortcomings in Japanese family law and how Japan's Continuity Principle ​is keeping children kidnapped. Panelists included:

Mr. Akira Ueno, Attorney, Nihonbashi Sakura Law Firm

Professor Noriko Odagiri, Professor of Clinical Psychology Tokyo International University

There is a systemic, entrenched pattern that further harms the children abducted by a parent to and within Japan. It is known as "The Continuity Principle." Simply put, judges and attorneys representing abductors manipulate the "best interest of the child" to rule that the child should remain alienated and ignore how they ended up with the abducting parent. In Japan, abducting your child is encouraged because it assures you will keep possession. We see this in international cases where courts may determine the child was taken to Japan without permission, sometimes acknowledging illegal acts, and then rule the child should remain with the abducting parent.To impact the ongoing child abduction crisis positively, the most effective way currently is to encourage Japanese judges to end using the continuity principle and adopt the “friendly parent rule." In Japan's interpretation, the friendly parent is the one more supportive of the other parent being an integral part of the child's life. Adopting this would create a standard for the child to maintain a relationship with both parents. Japan could then be more in sync with The Hague Abduction Convention, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the revised Japanese civil code article 766.[1]

Addressing at the United Nations Human Rights Council this week Mr. Shunichi Fujiki of the International Career Support Association declared, "Parental child abductions are becoming a serious human rights violation in Japan."

"The abducted child is at the mercy of the abducting parent. The child can no longer go home and [is] forced to sever their relationship with the abandoned parent."

Children have the right to be loved by both parents. He continues, "In Japan many children are deprived of the basic rights because of the current system and crooked lawyers."

​Senate Resolution 431 (S.Res.431) will create a month of awareness of for the harm caused by international parental child abduction. It will lead to greater action to #EndInternationalParentalChildAbductionLearn about the resolution here.

Helping Is Easy

1) Call the Washington, DC office for both your senators. Keep it simple:My name is ___________ I am a constituent from (city&state) and I would like to see Senator ___________ co-sponsor and vote for S.Res. 431 on creating an international parental child abduction awareness month.If you can’t reach someone at the DC office, then call the district office.​2) Motivate your friends and family to do it, too, and keep the support chain growing.

Senate Phone Numbers

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith provides an impassioned plea for the return of "Mochi" Atomu Imoto Morehouse and all children kidnapped to Japan by a parent. The video was released at a May 29, 2017 press conference in Tokyo by Jeffery Morehouse and attorney Akira Ueno at the Tokyo Courthouse. (full transcript in Japanese and English follows)

Jeffery Morehouse has been tenaciously and thoughtfully trying to reunite with his kidnapped son, Mochi, since 2010.

As the chairman of the official congressional subcommittee that oversees international human rights, I invited Jeffery to testify before congress to tell his story. I was deeply moved. The love he has for his son is extraordinary—as is the suffering and pain he and Mochi endure as a result of this heartbreaking and illegal separation.

As Jeffery reported to the US Congress in 2015, he has had sole custody in the United States since 2007. This fact was also recognized as legal by the courts in Japan in 2014. Thus, it is shocking that his son has not been returned to him by the Japanese government.

I can't imagine the pain of this kind of separation, and I hear it in his words every time I see him, and that is often. He is a loving father tirelessly trying and working for return of his son.

There have been hundreds of parental abductions from the U.S. to Japan since 1994. Jeffery's case underscores a serious injustice. It is false to claim that it is “in the best interest of the child” to remain in Japan—or anywhere after being kidnapped and taken there. Child abduction is a daily, ongoing form of child abuse.

Japan is a great country with many great people. It is a friend and important ally of the United States. But, no democratic, honorable government should allow this type of criminal act to continue.

In 2011, I traveled to Japan on behalf of many American parents who simply wanted to be reunited with their children. Japanese elected officials and government officials with whom I met, agree that the forced separation is deeply damaging—both for the child and the left behind parent.

Japan as we all know has since signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—signifying the government’s intention to properly resolving these child abduction cases.

But the Morehouse case, already adjudicated in the courts years ago, continues to raise troubling questions about Japan’s human rights’ record and its commitment to reuniting families.

​And so I call on my friends in the Japanese government to please take decisive action in this and other pending international child abduction cases. Please return Mochi to his loving father.

The Coalition to End International Parental Child Abduction met in The Roosevelt Room with White House staff close to the President and Ivanka Trump. "Being invited to The White House to discuss policy changes necessary with countries like Japan is an important step in making American children first and bringing them home," according to Jeffery Morehouse, Executive Director of Bring Abducted Children Home and founding partner in The Coalition.

Football Party Fundraiser in Seattle for Bring Abducted Children Home (bachome.org)!Free admission & drink specials. 21 and over only.Come have fun watching the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Philadelphia Eagles at Bleachers Pub (8118 Greenwood Ave N., Seattle, WA 98103)Raffle, Football Pool, and Silent Auction to benefit Bring Abducted Children Home.Can’t make it but want to help? Please make a tax-deductible donation or do The BAC Home Challenge: The Walk For Freedom!

On March 31, 2014 at 9:00 AM, BAC Home leadership, parents, and supporters will come together in Washington, D.C. to hand deliver an estimated 35 Hague Article 21 Access Applications to the U.S. Department of State. This will be followed by a ceremonious march to the Embassy of Japan where we have requested to meet with Ambassador Sasae.

The day’s events coincide with Japan implementation of The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction on April 1, 2014. No provisions, however, have been made to directly address the 400 cases of U.S. children kidnapped to Japan since 1994.

On April 1, 2014 Japan is expected to implement The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. No provisions have been made to directly address the 400 cases of U.S. children kidnapped to Japan since 1994.At 9AM on March 31, 2014, BAC Home leadership, parents, and supporters will come together in Washington, D.C. to hand deliver an estimated 35 Hague Article 21 Access Applications to the U.S. Department of State. This will be followed by a ceremonious march to the Embassy of Japan where they have requested to meet with Ambassador Sasae.

Bring Abducted Children Home is dedicated to the immediate return of internationally abducted children who are being wrongfully detained in Japan. We also strive to end Japan’s human rights violation of denying children unfettered access to both parents.

Bring Abducted Children Home (BACHome) was incorporated in 2011 to educate the Dept of State, Congress, the media and the public, and to raise awareness of the plight of 375+ U.S. citizen children kidnapped to (and wrongfully retained) in Japan.

The Government of Japan has never returned an abducted child in 58 years, making Japan a BLACK HOLE for child abduction since NO CHILD HAS EVER RETURNED.

Both children and parents are suffering from this terrible crime. Join BAC Home on Facebook and help us end this injustice.

Parents of Internationally Kidnapped Children and supporters gathered to deliver letters addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan to consulate officials at an event near Seattle. There was one letter for each of the 74 cases listed on the Bring Abducted Children Home website. They outlined Japan’s violations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and obligation to address the kidnapping and retention of children. This was the Government of Japan’s response to our kidnapped children…

Next week President Obama will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Abe in Washington D.C. The Prime Minister is anticipated to deliver a commitment to implementing Hague legislation. However, there has been no previously announced plan for resolution of existing cases. In advance of the meeting, Bring Abducted Children Home delivered letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan to Japanese consulates throughout the U.S.

GREAT NEWS!!! BAC HOME has received IRS approval as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization! All deductions to BAC Home are tax-deductible dating back to our incorporation on June 2, 2011. Please see attached letter from BAC Home and give if you can during this holiday season. With your help, we can continue our efforts to Bring Abducted Children Home.

Bring Abducted Children Home is dedicated to the immediate return of internationally abducted children being wrongfully detained in Japan. We also strive to end Japan’s human rights violation of denying children unfettered access to both parents.

As we were meeting prior to the event at a local coffee shop, the police arrived. The officer told us that the Seattle Consulate of Japan had called them and informed them of our intended protest. He also stated that they provided him with a printout from our Facebook page.After a giving the officer an overview of the crisis of international parental child abduction to and within Japan, he wished us well and told us to call him if we had any questions while at the protest.We have long suspected that the Government of Japan has been monitoring our efforts and activities. Now it has been confirmed, we have their attention. So if they no longer wish to be known as “A Black Hole For Child Abduction”, the solution is simple. Return our abducted children to us.

BAC Home holds a successful protest rally next to the Consulate of Japan booth at the2012 Aki Matsuri in Bellevue, WA. Japan is known internationally as “A Black Hole For Child Abduction”.International parental child abduction is a crime and human rights violation. It is time the government of Japan show they will no longer support abduction and return children to their home countries.

This week parents, members and leadership of Bring Abducted Children Home are delivering a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan to Japanese consulates throughout the U.S.We call on the Government of Japan to immediately aid and complete the safe return to the United States all American children abducted to Japan, and provide all American children abducted within Japan immediate and unfettered access to their U.S. parent.

President Obama visited Seattle on May 10, 2012. BAC Home was there working the crowds to educate citizens on children abducted to and within Japan. People were shocked and outraged by this ongoing human rights and family crisis. One by bystander even shouted out, “there’s a cause worth fighting for!”.

Several said they would make the phone calls to the campaign offices of Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney to ask for their public commitment to bring abducted children home.We were also there as the motorcade drove by so that the president can see Parents of Kidnapped Children(PKCs) are not going to be silenced.